A Mecanum wheel assembly is well known for providing a drive mechanism to a vehicle that allows the vehicle to move in all directions, including laterally, by rotating the wheel assemblies of the vehicle in different directions. Each wheel assembly includes a plurality of rollers disposed around the perimeter of a central hub. An exemplary prior art design of a Mecanum wheel is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,255, and incorporated herein by reference.
The hub geometry of a standard Mecanum wheel assembly is relatively complex, with roller axes being formed obliquely to a central hub axis. Further, both left-handed and right-handed hubs are required, at least one for each side of the vehicle. Left-handed hubs are mirror images of right-handed hubs, requiring spares of each of left-handed and right-handed hubs in the event of the failure of one of the hubs. There exists a need to improve the hub geometry of the Mecanum wheel.